


How They All Found Out

by mrs_spencer_reid



Series: Spencer is at the very least bi and nobody can tell me otherwise [1]
Category: Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: Boys In Love, Coming Out, Everyone loves Spencer Reid, Fluff, Heid - Freeform, Humor, Idiots in Love, Insecure Aaron Hotchner, Insecure Spencer Reid, Light Angst, M/M, Oblivious Spencer Reid, Oblivious Team, Protective Aaron Hotchner, Protective BAU Team (Criminal Minds), Spencer Reid Needs a Hug, Team as Family, The BAU Team as Family (Criminal Minds)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-21
Updated: 2021-01-21
Packaged: 2021-03-13 09:08:54
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,053
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28900908
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mrs_spencer_reid/pseuds/mrs_spencer_reid
Summary: Spencer and Hotch have been seeing each other for a year. You would think that a team of behavior specialists would pick up on it pretty quickly. You would think.Alternatively,How the team found out about Heid.
Relationships: Aaron Hotchner/Spencer Reid
Series: Spencer is at the very least bi and nobody can tell me otherwise [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2119563
Comments: 4
Kudos: 91





	How They All Found Out

Rossi had gotten pretty good at reading Aaron. Over the years their had friendship lasted, he'd learned to read into the tiniest signs (mostly because those were the only ones the other man gave). In fact, chances were that nobody else even noticed any change. He couldn't blame them, Aaron was definitely not the surprising type. Although an excellent friend and coworker, he always stuck to the same (maybe slightly boring predictable) routine. Which was why when, one day, the unit chief showed up just a few minutes later than usual, he was the only one who noticed.

Over the next few weeks Rossi made several similar observations. Aaron running a little late, leaving a little early, or almost losing focus (which, quite literally, had never happened before). Running through the possible causes for this change in behavior, the older man grew more and more curious. What or who could possibly be making Aaron this distracted?

His first thought was Jack. The kid was growing up fast, and Aaron still spent so much time away - that couldn't be easy. But that couldn't be it. Rossi saw Jack almost every week, he would've noticed something off in his behavior. The next logical conclusion would be relationship trouble. The idea almost made him laugh out loud. This was Aaron. His one and only true love was his job, which he performed dutifully, successfully eliminating any possible relationships in their infancy. No woman could keep up with their impossible schedule, no matter how desirable Hotch was with the ladies.

That left the last possible explanation, alcohol. After Haley's death, Rossi spent a significant amount of time worrying about Aaron's mental health. He knew stronger men who, after having experienced a tragedy as extreme as the Hotchners', turned to the bottle.

With his head swimming with disappointment and regret for apparently not helping his friend enough, Rossi decided to finally stage an intervention. One evening, after a mostly uneventful day, he waited for the unit chief to casually slip out a little earlier than was his custom, and proceeded to follow him to follow him down the stairs to the parking garage.

Expecting the man to head to his regular parking spot, Rossi exited on the fourth level. He frowned, looking around and not seeing Aaron anywhere. Quickly making a round to double check, Rossi assumed the man just didn't drive that day, and ended up going down to the exit to hail himself a cab. As he jogged down the stairs past the second level, Rossi heard movement. Purely by coincidence, he looked over his shoulder and caught a glimpse of Hotch standing outside not his own car, but Reid's. He quickly turned and moved slightly to stand slightly behind a random car, out of sight.

He didn't think his frown could grow any more, but alas, there is always room for more confusion. What the hell was Aaron doing loitering around Reid's car? Was Reid somehow a part of the man's new alcoholic tendencies? His questions, however, were soon answered.

After waiting in silence for a few minutes, Rossi noticed the young doctor heading towards them from the direction of the elevators. At the sound of his footsteps, Aaron's head perked up and his face broke out into a- No. It couldn't be. He'd seen Aaron smile exactly three times in his entire life, two of them had been directed at Jack. So why was this usually reserved man positively beaming at another team member?

The answer came to him as soon as Aaron jogged up to meet Reid with a kiss?! Good lord, was Rossi seeing things? Did he just see Aaron kiss Reid?

Suddenly, everything fit in place. The odd behavior, the weirdly good mood, the disinterest in any of the countless women Rossi tried to set Aaron up with. He was seeing Reid. But for how long? When had this happened? How did this happen? And how did he, the most experienced profiler on the team, fail to notice until this moment?

The two men were, of course, completely oblivious to the fact that Rossi was losing his freaking mind. Aaron reluctantly pulled away and sighed, gently kissing Reid's forehead.

"Darling, as much as I hate to say this, we should probably get going. Someone is bound to see us here and I know how uncomfortable you are with the team finding out just yet."

Reid groaned in disappointment, but pulled away and nodded. "Damn you for being so considerate of my feelings," he complained jokingly, and tugged Aaron's arm towards the car.

"But I'm driving," the younger insisted. "You drive like my grandmother. If she was blind. And also a snail."

Hotch grimaced, hand coming up to meet his temple. "Did you- Did you just compare me to an elderly snail?"

"What, are you saying I'm wrong?"

Aaron's eye roll couldn't hide the clear adoration he felt for the younger. "You're lucky you're cute."

Grabbing Aaron's shoulder, Reid leaned towards him. "If you keep insisting on calling me 'darling', I might let you get pretty lucky as well."

Because he was standing fairly far away, Rossi couldn't tell for certain, but it seemed like Aaron blushed. If he was ever able to discuss this relationship with him without exposing the slightly invasive way he found out about it (and if he was ever able to get over the nausea the idea of Aaron and Reid getting lucky together gave him,) Hotch was in for a world of teasing.

As the two men got into the car and drove away, Rossi stood still in wonder, unable to process what he just witnessed. Several minutes passed by before he was finally able to snap out of it and head back to the office.

Well this was certainly news. But aside from the wonky behavior he witnessed from Aaron all week, he realized there was one more significant change. The man looked happier. Sighing, Rossi stepped out of the elevator, silently vowing to himself to keep this secret to the grave, if only for the sake of preserving his friendship with his best friend.

"For Pete's sake, these kids will be the death of me," he grumbled returning to his office, trying to focus enough to at least get some of his work done.


End file.
